German TV station Pro7 will broadcast Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" on November 1, 2004 - just 1 day before the U.S. elections.

In announcing (Click on "TV-Tipp 20:15 Fahrenheit 9/11") its broadcast Pro7 claims that

“Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 deals with the ominous ties between the Bush family and the top terrorist Osma bin Laden and that, thanks both to the power of the facts presented and to Moore’s emotional, honest disgust, it is convincing. The Oscar winning director never claims to be an impartial observer of the September 11th, 2001, attacks - he definitely opposes the current administration's policy.”

No need to comment on the anti-Bush bias in this announcement...

A special irony is to be found in the fact that Pro7 belongs to the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, the majority owner of which is the American investor Haim Saban, who lives in Los Angeles. There is no doubt that a decision as politically sensitive as the broadcast of "Fahrenheit 9/11" one day before the American election could not have been made without Saban’s approval.

And here's the rest of the story...

Saban was the top donor for the Democratic national Committee during the Clinton administration. And he’s a top donor for the Democrats in the 2004 U.S. presidential election campaign. That’s been confirmed by The Washington Post:

"Among the leading (Kerry) donors with an interest in Jewish issues, particularly U.S.-Israeli relations, is Haim Saban, the chief executive of Saban Capital Group and creator of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers."

A nice example of cooperation between American Democrats and the German media. Ah well, if it’s anti-Bush, the strangest bedfellows find each other…

In order to give our blog’s readers an idea of the anti-American trend and the drift to the political left at German public television’s ZDF network, we offer a few extracts from a report on Michael Moore’s film, Fahrenheit 9/11.

Fahrenheit 9/11 – Laughter and Crying for America

The hardliners, whom the Americans like to call “hawks,” had consistently and with various degrees of skill tried to stop this film.

Michael Eisner’s withdrawal from the distribution agreement was only too clearly marked by George Bush’s brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, home of Disney World.

Eisner’s statement that the Disney Company didn’t want to take sides politically implied that Disney had already chosen a side: the hawks’.

… people like Michael Moore have to undergo a lot of harassment by right wing agitators, presented, primarily by talk radio, under the pretense of free speech… .

Slowly the American public, having degenerated to credit card swiping(emphasis added), is awakening itself from its maudlin dreams of consumption, and is allowing itself, after seeing (the film) to be registered to vote. …

The film arrived in Germany two years too early to remind us of (German Chancellor) Schroeder’s very well thought out and prudent decision not to have Germany support the Iraq War and thus to bolster his re-election campaign in 2006. Besides, we have other problems…but unfortunately no German Michael Moore to awaken us from our nightmare. (Our translation)

Well, America’s “degenerated” people could help a bit by waking ZDF up – so don’t forget, take part in ZDF’s Bush-Kerry poll.

SPON: “Moore Only Proves You Can Use the Wrong Means for the Right Goals.”

In a truly remarkable development, many in the German press, including the prominent left wing SPIEGEL ONLINE, are rebuking filmmaker and best-selling author Michael Moore. It seems that Moore’s filmmaking style in his new “documentary” film "Fahrenheit 9/11," premiering this week in Germany, is simply so odious that it can no longer be defended by stern media types (such as those at SPON) who seek to maintain a façade of journalistic integrity and objectivity.

Ich liebe Germany: Moore Back for More!

Four aspects of Moore’s filmmaking that particularly irritate many in the German media are his:

1. Conspicuous omission of key facts.
2. Fast and furious handling of the facts he does choose to address.
3. Tendency to oversimplify.
4. Manipulation of emotions.

“The lack of respect and sensitivity that it takes to show pictures like this is what makes up the success of Michael Moore and his “docu-tainment.” He is also assured to have a hit at the box office here in Germany, in any instance the throng of Moore disciples is especially large due to the anti-American tendencies that have been swelling for decades here in our land. In this sense, “Fahrenheit 9/11” is not a gem of filmmaking: A fast and furious beginning is followed by an unstructured middle section and an emotional ending. There is no sign of inner coherence, Moore gives priority to populism over form.”

The inescapable irony of it all is that SPIEGEL itself has contributed in a major way to the “anti-American tendencies that have been swelling for decades here in our land.” It was and is the bias of influential publications just like SPIEGEL that have made the massive success of a Michael Moore possible in the first place and filled the ranks of his “throng of disciples” in Germany. If SPIEGEL ONLINE is now genuinely alarmed at (or incredibly envious of) the magnitude of Michael Moore’s success, there is little left to say but “Selber schuld!” (“You have only yourself to blame!”)

SPIEGEL Also No Stranger to Making a Fast Buck from Anti-American Sentiment: Title above from January 2003: "Blood for Oil: What it is Really about in Iraq"

Michael Moore’s reckoning with America under George W. Bush is a combination of a hard-hitting political book and comical satire. In the White House sits “Bush Baby with his Cabal,” a President who was never voted into office. The situation in the nation is analogous: the foreign policy is a series of mistakes, the stock market has become a playing field for swindlers, many investors are ruined, the economy is on its way down. Michael Moore shows all of the things going wrong in the USA, the one remaining superpower. He spares no person or thing, showing the weaknesses of the political system as well as the effects of unbridled capitalism.

It seems to me that the book prize clearly shows the weaknesses of the German political system: The demand for leftist political clowns without consideration for intellectual substance and the unbridled development of anti-Americanism.

BTW: While the German book market in general is not experiencing remarkable growth, there is one category with outstanding success:

You wouldn’t expect “Spotlight” magazine, an educational publication for Germans learning the English language, to delve too deeply into partisan politics. Its mission after all, is to teach reading skills, grammar and vocabulary. It seems that Spotlight’s editors, however, just couldn’t resist the temptation of cashing in on Michael Moore-mania in Germany. The magazine is running a large three page article (originally from the Guardian) and interview on Moore labeling Americans as "right wing” and the US media as “conservative.” The article, which appears in this month’s edition (February 2004,) lavishly praises Moore as down-to-earth and the biggest author since J.K. Rowling.

One of the article’s paragraphs begins with the line “Berlin in 1936 is a fairly good analogy for where Moore thinks America is at the moment…(and) he does believe America’s democracy is in danger, as Germany’s was in the years following the burning down of the Reichstag.”

Question: Was Germany a democracy in the years following the burning down of the Reichstag? A truly historically inept statement by the article’s author Gary Younge, one that shows the widely pervasive willingness of the German media and leftist filmmakers and authors like Michael Moore and Oliver Stone to play fast and loose with the historic facts when it comes to bringing down anyone who threatens their worldview. Favorite targets include conservatives and Republicans, especially popular Republican Presidents.

Comparing the US today with Hitler’s Germany also allows many Germans to both consciously and subconsciously wipe-off the guilt and historic burden they still carry around with them from their Nazi past and drop it on Americans. That is certainly one reason why Michael Moore and his books are so emotionally satisfying to so many Germans. Don’t forget, Moore has sold more books in Germany than in the USA! He was on the German best-seller lists for months.

English translation
The "Culture" section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) - Germany's most repudiated (conservative) daily newspaper - likes Michael Moore. And Michael Moore likes General Clark. For that reason, the FAZ gladly published an open letter from Moore to Clark in its Sunday edition.
(English version)

To claim that Moore is critical of President Bush is like saying Hamas is critical of Israeli Prime Minister Sharon. Moore hates Bush, he hates the "neocons", he hates the US war against Saddam. Moore is the top icon of a hostile Anti-Bush-chorus of American liberals.
That's why Moore gets a free pass for publishing in the German media.

Moore's support for Clark is the equivalent of the mafia's kiss of death for Clark's election chances:

„I would like to share with others what I said to you privately: You may be the person who can defeat George W. Bush in next year's election. ... This is war, General, and it's Bush & Co.'s war on us. It's their war on the middle class, the poor, the environment, their war on women and their war against anyone around the world who doesn't accept total American domination. Yes, it's a war -- and we, the people, need a general to beat back those who have abused our Constitution and our basic sense of decency. ... Michael Moore likes a general? I never thought I'd write these words. But desperate times call for desperate measures. ... Yes, your country needs you to perform one more act of brave service -- to help defeat an enemy from within, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, an address that used to belong to "we, the people."“